If I were to start fresh in the EQ universe today, it would be with EQ2, not the original. What EQ had going for it, once upon a time, was the groups you became involved with on your way to 50. Nowadays, that is gone, replaced by a race to become raid-ready.

Still one of the best MMOs out there when it comes to raiding, but it's a ghost-town otherwise.

I have good memories from Eq-like Drithius said, good grouping game and I tried out all the race-class combos. I was in from the beginning when it was a very dangerous world and leveling was slow. Now you get pushed to a very fast beginning zone with Mercs to help and a tome to make the trip even easier. I don't think you even loose all your stuff any more when you die. I read you are limited to 4 class and race combos with bag restrictions but not true for returning players as I logged in and all my characters were still there with their stuff and bags. Empty? I heard the new server has a lot of people starting over and with some total newbies so some might want to jump in there. I think you can easily solo it to 65 now but raiding will always make you get in a guild.
Anyways, I don't have the time for that any more. Huge timesink

This is the most recent thread that's suited to my question, so I'll post here.

I'm thinking about getting a gold membership for EQ. Caveat: I don't usually like MMO's.

The questions I'm mulling over are:

1. How full are the servers nowadays? It's pretty old, so I would guess that there should be some servers that are far from crowded, but it's also F2P, so who knows. As I said I'm not an MMO player by heart so I'd rather play on servers that aren't crowded with other people who break my immershun.

2. Is it realistic to expect the EQ servers to be running for a few more years with EQ Next already on the horizon? OTOH, the latest EQ "expansion" has just been released a few days ago.

3. Do you have any experience playing with "mercenaries", especially using the latest expansion? Would you say that a solo player using mercenaries is going to see most of the content the game has to offer?

4. Is purchasing the gold membership even worth it nowadays? From what I could gather F2P started out with severe limitations on playable races, classes and levels, but that doesn't seem to be the case anymore. I don't know what "alternate ability limitations" means but I'm guessing it's not something essential? Please be aware that I don't really want a pay2win membership, just the best deal for a solo player.

I haven't played EQ 1 in over a year, but I play EQ2 almost every day. As far as I know, gold membership is the same in both games, so what I know should apply to both. If you don't plan on raiding, I doubt a gold sub is necessary at all. With kronos readily available in the games, what I would do is start playing free, accumulate enough cash to buy a krono (which is an item that gives you gold membership for an ingame cost, or you can buy them at real-life stores), and see how much you actually enjoy the game. After that, you can make an informed choice on what you want to do.

Mercs are quite nice if you intend to solo. Even with EQ next due sometime in the future, I doubt Sony will just pull the plug on the earlier two games. The loyalty to both games is rather intense.

If EQ1 is anything like it was a few years ago when I returned, it is singularly about about raiding; anything aside from those raiding zones or exp farm zones is absolutely devoid of people.

The game still has some of the most varied class gameplay out there, but the tunnel that Sony has proceeded down absolutely repulses me. I wouldn't recommend playing the game unless you're with a fellow first-time player, discovering those early zones for the first time (KUNARK!). As a solo venture, I cannot reasonably expect you'll find much of anything but an overall sense from other players that you have to level, level, level, and then, AA, AA, AA!

I've downloaded and briefly played EQ 1 and 2. I'd say 1 is right out graphically; I'm not really a graphics whore, but I'd rather play a MUD than this tbh (hyperbole; I'm not really looking for a MUD).
I've gathered that 2 is for a different audience than 1, but I'm not sure for which. PVP'ers obviously, but there is only one PVP server out of nine or something on the F2P list (I'm not into PVP anyway).

So, I'm still unsure. Maybe I should go with another game entirely? DDO, LOTRO, Neverwinter? There's only one thing I definitely require of my game: I'm going to play solo, but I'm not into playing with only one character, so there must be either hirelings or several pets or summons.

I have some other minor preferences, like lots of races and classes, character progression via skills and attributes vs. loot, or open world, but none of that is very important.

I know you mentioned playing solo but, for me, the reason to play an MMO is the social interaction. It's simply a shallow, tedious spreadsheet of a game otherwise.

To that end, not only does DDO have some of the best class and character systems out there (as it should, being built upon D&D 3.5), but it also makes it remarkably easy and straight forward for you to join someone working on the same quest as you. Its weak point is the very much piecemeal world created by heavy instancing and reliance on Stormreach (for the most part) as a central hub.

Nonetheless, if you insist on playing an MMO as a single player game with a lot of content, let me suggest The Secret World. The content that the game has is an absolute joy to play through, by yourself or otherwise. The caveat, of course, is that once you play through all of it, the sense of discovery you've come to love fades away, replaced by a completely different game.

Thanks, I hadn't heard about Secret World before. The setting isn't for me though.

Yeah, I was aware of Fluent's thread, and like him I've given LOTRO a go and I like it so far, mostly. I wish there were more races, or rather, racial modifiers for subraces (as in MERP). Also there seems to be no way to manually distribute stat points. Not cool.

The thing that still makes me consider EQ is the mercenaries, but I've read you can recruit hirelings in LOTRO too, during certain events at least.

D&D games always kinda bore me, especially if they're mostly about combat, because while abilities are pedestrian and unspectacular they're also not adhering to realism at the same time. I guess that's because D&D tries to be everything and fails.

Gothic horror is fine, as is cyberpunk or space opera, just not all the time. I'm more of a traditional high fantasy guy; one of those who don't groan when they hear there will be elves and dwarves in a game

I've bought some expansions for LOTRO on a whim so I'll be playing that for a while. I can't share Fluent's enthusiasm that this is a substitute for a big single player LOTR game, but it's fun enough.

Originally Posted by Sacred_Path
D&D games always kinda bore me, especially if they're mostly about combat, because while abilities are pedestrian and unspectacular they're also not adhering to realism at the same time. I guess that's because D&D tries to be everything and fails.

90% of almost all MMOs are about combat

I'm not sure what you mean by pedestrian abilities, but I'd say DDO has plenty of cool active powers.

As for realism - D&D was never about simulating a realistic medieval setting - so I can appreciate if you want to avoid high fantasy with fantastical spells and powers like assassination and whirlwind.

Personally, I consider it the best system for character development out there.

I don't think your personal dislike is quite enough to call it a failure - but you're right it's definitely not "everything".

I've bought some expansions for LOTRO on a whim so I'll be playing that for a while. I can't share Fluent's enthusiasm that this is a substitute for a big single player LOTR game, but it's fun enough.

LOTRO is pretty much the king of pedestrian combat powers - but I guess I don't really know what you mean by that.

But if you go into it expecting gameplay to be focused on non-combat - you'll be very, very disappointed.

Originally Posted by DArtagnan
90% of almost all MMOs are about combat

I'm not sure what you mean by pedestrian abilities, but I'd say DDO has plenty of cool active powers.

As for realism - D&D was never about simulating a realistic medieval setting - so I can appreciate if you want to avoid high fantasy with fantastical spells and powers like assassination and whirlwind.

Personally, I consider it the best system for character development out there.

I don't think your personal dislike is quite enough to call it a failure - but you're right it's definitely not "everything".

I call it a failure in that it tries to cater to all kinds of people, thereby not serving any of them fully.
In D&D 3E your fighter has to be ~level 5 to hit one more enemy after felling one repeatedly. Pretty pedestrian as far as fun goes, but too gimmicky to satisfy more low-fantasy players. To me, all of D&D seems like that.

LOTRO is pretty much the king of pedestrian combat powers - but I guess I don't really know what you mean by that.

But if you go into it expecting gameplay to be focused on non-combat - you'll be very, very disappointed.

What? No, I noticed LOTRO is mostly about combat and crafting (like most MMO's I'd say, but then you'd call me uninformed ), it's just that I find D&D combat especially unengaging, at least in real time. In LOTRO my Captain got insta-health replenishing abilities and buffs that make him very hard to hit right out of the box, not to mention that you can take on mobs with a single character right away, so it seems to me the power progression is a little different from D&D. I haven't researched all the abilities you can get even for the Captain class, so yeah there's the possibility that LOTRO will leave me underwhelmed in the long run. Can't say. At least it's something new though

Originally Posted by Sacred_Path
I call it a failure in that it tries to cater to all kinds of people, thereby not serving any of them fully.
In D&D 3E your fighter has to be ~level 5 to hit one more enemy after felling one repeatedly. Pretty pedestrian as far as fun goes, but too gimmicky to satisfy more low-fantasy players. To me, all of D&D seems like that.

It serves me better than any other system, which is what I'm trying to say.

As for what level you have to be to get advanced powers or multiple attacks - that goes for pretty much all RPGs out there. Trying to single out D&D for being more "unrealistic" than the norm is going to be a very uphill battle.

Don't get me started about realism and combat in your average MMO, for instance - and certainly don't get me started on LOTRO - because then I'll be bringing up the way rogues "mez" monsters for 30-60 seconds by posing a riddle mid-combat and the like.

Just… don't go where you can't survive

What? No, I noticed LOTRO is mostly about combat and crafting (like most MMO's I'd say, but then you'd call me uninformed ), it's just that I find D&D combat especially unengaging, at least in real time. In LOTRO my Captain got insta-health replenishing abilities and buffs that make him very hard to hit right out of the box, not to mention that you can take on mobs with a single character right away, so it seems to me the power progression is a little different from D&D. I haven't researched all the abilities you can get even for the Captain class, so yeah there's the possibility that LOTRO will leave me underwhelmed in the long run. Can't say. At least it's something new though

Obviously, you don't know anything about how DDO works - or you'd realise that "insta-health" abilities and powerful buffs are available from the get-go, and you can most certainly handle multiple mobs from level one.

You can kill plenty of enemies in one blow with Cleave as a level 1 fighter in D&D PnP - but you'd have to actually know what you're talking about to realise that.

Originally Posted by DArtagnan
Trying to single out D&D for being more "unrealistic" than the norm is going to be a very uphill battle.

That's not what I said, quite the contrary. If that was true, D&D would have a distinct profile, and I'm saying exactly that it doesn't have that.

Obviously, you don't know anything about how DDO works - or you'd realise that "insta-health" abilities and powerful buffs are available from the get-go, and you can most certainly handle multiple mobs from level one.

Eh, I never played or read anything about DDO, I was just going by my experience with 3 and 3.5E combat. Is this stuff part of 4E or just something they made up to make DDO less frustrating/ better to be solo'ed? Makes me think of NWN and the "parry" skill.

You can kill plenty of enemies in one blow with Cleave as a level 1 fighter in D&D PnP - but you'd have to actually know what you're talking about to realise that.

I said repeatedly, and AFAIK you need Great Cleave for that? Also, tone down the butthurt.

I'm in LOTRO for 6 months already and I don't have time for any other game since I started to play it. In the past I used to devide my free time between several different games, but now all my free time goes to LOTRO. I don't know how long I'm going to be still in game though. Probably till ESO or EQN are out. LOTRO is a bit outdated and I could hardly get into it after spending 600 hours in Skyrim, but now I'm happy that I pushed myself a bit in the very beggining to get hooked with it. No matter what's going to happen in the future, LOTRO is going to be one of the RPG milestones for me, compared to such RPG titans like Elder Scrolls, Wizardry, M&M…